Red roses and such

Happy Valentine's Day!

Albert and I are on a gift-giving hiatus (what do you get for two people who already have too much stuff?) so we chose to stay in with Abby and make a nice dinner. Of course, Albert broke the rule and got some roses (purportedly after he haggled with some street vendors in Spanish). It made me feel like we were back in the days when he was actively courting me and Albert routinely broke those rules.

Al's Valentines

For Valentine's I decided to go with a beet salad in a balsamic glaze and an Afghani lamb dish called Qabili Pallau which we've had a couple of restaurants but never at home.

Our Valentine's Feast

Here are the recipes:

Beet Salad

2 medium sized red (and/or yellow) beets
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
3 tsp brown sugar
olive oil

Drizzle the cleaned beets in olive oil. Wrap completely in aluminum foil and place in oven for 1-1.5 hours (until it can be pierced easily all the way through). Take the balsamic vineger and brown sugar and heat. Stir to completely melt the brown sugar and bring to a rapid boil. Keep stirring for 5-10 minutes until the mixture is thick enough to coat a spoon. Slice up beets and mix into the balsamic glaze. Serve with some greens

Qabili Pallau

2 cups basmati rice
1 medium onion
olive oil
1.5 lbs lamb shank
2-3 large carrots
1 cup golden sultana raisins
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp cardamom
1.5 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp saffron
2 tsp sugar
salt and pepper

Brown the diced onion in oil until brown. Add the lamb shank and brown on all sides.

Add 2 cups of water, 1 tsp. salt and the cinamon, cumin and cardamom. Cover and simmer until the meat is tender (about an hour). Remembering to keep the meat juice, strain out the meat and onions and set aside in a casserole with a cover.

Cut the carrots into match stick size pieces. Saute carrots in oil with 1 tsp of sugar. Cook until the carrots are lightly browned. Remove the carrots from the oil and add the raisins. Cook them until they swell up.

Boil the meeat juice and about 2 cups of water. Add 2 cups of basmati rice, 1.5 tsp of salt and cook until the water is absorbed and the rice is tender.

Finally, preheat oven to 300 degrees. Mix the meat, carrots, raisins and rice together and place into the casserole. Cover and place in oven for 30 minutes.

Full circle

Sometimes we look at Abby and we can tell exactly what Albert will look like when he loses most of his hair. Abby was born with a full head of hair but gradually over the course of the last couple of months, she's lost a good chunk of it. My friends tell me that this is what happens to babies but I have to admit, it looks really odd. I think it's karma.

You see, a couple of years ago, I visited Japan and saw a baby cousin of mine. She's adorable now but she had the weirdest hair loss pattern. She had lost her hair on the back and side of her head but had a full tuft up top. I had a hard time finding ways to compliment the baby because I was so caught off guard by the hair.

Now I look at Abby and I know what people must be thinking. Abby has lost a lot of her hair except for some on the sides and a tuft that sticks straight up towards the top of her head. She's lost most of her hair up front so it makes her look a bit like a monchichi. Yesterday, my mom and I went up to San Francisco to get her Japanese passport (she can have dual citizenship because of me). We had to get passport photos taken in advance. I had a bit of an ordeal to get it done but Abby was very patient. The only problem is that Abby is very camera shy. She doesn't like to smile when she sees a camera and becomes very serious. With the hair the way it is and her serious expression, her photo ended up looking a bit like a mugshot:

Abby's first mugshot
There are certain photos I look at of Abby and think to myself, "Now THAT is a photo that we should definitely have in the slideshow at her wedding!" This is definitely one of them.

Dear Abby

People told me that life would change drastically when you arrived and it certainly has. You came into my life when I was starting to feel the desire to take care of someone other than your father. I wanted to have my dreams of my future to start being realized today... and you have made it so.

Abby and her faux-hawk
Some people ask me how I spend my days with you. I tell them that we have many conversations... although most are one-sided. You should know that as much as I talk to you about Real Analysis, Schrodinger's equations, and Kuhn-Tucker, I don't dream about you becoming an engineer or mathematician. I just do that to see the look of horror on my friends' faces. Still, sometimes you laugh when I tell you how the sum of infinite numbers could actually be a finite number and I wonder if maybe you have a little bit of my nerdiness in you. Or... maybe it's that you're laughing at me. Either way, it's ok because your laugh makes me laugh too.

You were an eagerly anticipated baby. For months in advance, we gathered the gear we would need to take care of you. We used a stuffed monkey as a your substitute to test out what we got.

Testing the Baby Bjorn

Everyday, I would place a hand on my growing belly to make sure you moved at least 10 times in an hour to guarantee your health. Often, you would start hiccuping and I could count 10 movements in less than a minute.

When you were born, I expected you to cry the soft cry of a newborn but you let out a scream worthy of a 3 month old. I was startled but quickly realized that your father is incapable of whispering. That loud voice will help you be heard over the din of your boisterous parents - the marvels of evolution. I love your long fingers because I can dream that maybe one day you will play piano and will learn to love the rich symphonies of Brahms or the chord progressions by Bach or the wonderful melodies of Schubert just like me. And your eyes... I wonder if someday you will be teased as I was that your eyes are shaped like almonds. I hope that you will respond as I did that you don't care because your daddy loves your almond shaped eyes and how they curve into small arches when you let out a giggle. You should. We love the curiosity in your eyes as you stare at the sunlight reflected on our walls and the suspicious glance you throw us when we aren't handling you quite right.

Abby enjoys reading

You have filled our life with hope, love and laughter. Some people would say that I should hold off until you are a teenager to see how you really turn out. I say to those people that I will probably love you more as you start to rebel against my wishes creating a new "you" that is separate from my dreams and wishes. We are imperfect parents by any stretch. Your dad said that he hopes that in your future is wisdom, integrity, and charity. Me... I hope for languid afternoons of shopping and ice cream. I guess all that means is that I hope we are close... that you can confide in me your fears and dreams. With that, you might be able to attain all those things your dad wishes for in spite of the parents you have.

Post-baby friendships

We've been asked if we make it out of the house since having Abby enter our busy lives. The truth is that we make it out of the house and we do so often! The other night, we went to Koh Samui and the Monkey with some old friends from BCG.

Gathering of good friends
We've been there before but haven't reviewed it so we'll put in a review here.

Koh Samui and the Monkey (Thai food)

415 Brannan Street
San Francisco, CA 94107
(415) 369-0007
www.kohsamuiandthemonkey.com

What we ate:
Soft Shell Crab Salad
Mango Catfish Curry
Seafood Clay Pot

Review:
Overall, this is decent Thai food at a good price for Soma. For some reason, Soma has a lot of pretty pricey restaurants so it's nice to find a place to go that doesn't really break the bank but is tasty. The special Mango Catfish Curry was awesome but I wasn't that impressed with the Seafood Clay Pot.

Other than that, we have also been out to Circa which is co-owned by a friend of ours.

Circa


2001 Chestnut Street
San Francisco, CA 94123
(415) 351-0175 Reserve Online
www.circasf.com

What we ate:
Sliders stuffed with black truffle and Brie cheese, served with Maui onion strings and house made ketchup 13
Lobster & white truffle mac-n-cheese 10
Moroccan spiced roasted Australian rack of lamb "lollichops" Mint chimichurri and pomegranate molasses 18

Review: I thought that the food here was really good although it is a little bit on the pricey side for the amount of food you get. I was a big fan of the mac-n-cheese and Albert will tell you that I just love sliders (I just have a thing for small burgers). I also liked the fact that although it is a bar/restaurant, it was quiet enough for us to be able to talk like normal human beings. The crowd is distinctly "Marina". I've also heard that this is a cougar-den but I can't say for sure since I'm not a young single male that cougars would target.

Special thanks are in order to my mom for looking after our little one while we tapped into our pre-baby selves. We definitely feel more human after our nights out and love Abby more for it.